“Most people think 'saint' is a synonym for 'perfect,'” he said. “But the saints were not perfect, and some of them were a lot less perfect than others.”
St. Olga of Kiev, for example, “was a mass murderer,” Craughwell noted. “St. Patrick in his teen years was an atheist. St. Margaret of Cortona lived in sin with a man for nine years. St. Camillus de Lellis was a card sharp and a con man.”
But it was when these individuals repented of their former lives that they took the first steps toward becoming holy, he said.
“It wasn’t easy. Repentance never is. Camillus slipped back into his old life more than once. Margaret missed the comfortable life of being a rich man’s mistress.”
“But by prayer and penance, the Mass and the sacraments, and God’s grace, they overcame their temptations and became saints,” he added. “If these guys could become saints, then there’s hope for all of us.”
Aside from his love for the Blessed Mother, Craughwell said he has had a devotion for St. Thomas More since he was a little boy.
“I like him because he teaches us how to live in the world. He had a wife and children; he had a successful career; he became well-to-do and politically powerful,” he said. “He was an internationally acclaimed author and he was the confidant of his king.”
“Yet he never lost sight of what is most important in life—love for and fidelity to Almighty God. That intimate relationship with God grounded More all his life, and gave him the courage to die, as he said on the scaffold, 'the king’s good servant, but God’s first.'”
Craughwell noted the importance of devotions to those who've gone before us, reminding that every week at Mass in the Apostles Creed, Catholics recite their belief in the communion of saints.
“The communion of saints is an eternal spiritual relationship that even death cannot destroy,” he underscored. We “beg the saints in heaven to pray for us, so that ultimately when we pass from this life we may pass through purgatory to the unending joy of heaven.”
“That is what God desires for every human being, and he has given us countless saints to show us the way that leads to Him.”
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Marianne is a journalist with a background in writing and Catholic theology. When not elaborating on the cinematic arts, she enjoys spending time with people, reading thick books and traveling anywhere and everywhere.